USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 17
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Besides, Lee knew that his strength had been sadly diminished by deser- tions, and there were other reasons-grave reasons-for his delay, most potent of all being, to put the mildest construction upon it, his own gar- rulous disposition, and his illy-disguised want of respect for his com- manding General, whom he considered his inferior in knowledge of mili- tary affairs. The force of General Mercer, at Bergen, was also sadly de- pleted; the terms of enlistment of most of his men had expired or was about to expire, and few of them had any heart to enter upon what prom- ised to be a winter campaign of hardship and distress, no matter how much military glory might be gained. A messenger had been sent to General Schuyler to send what troops he could spare from his force guarding the northern frontier, but no word of encouragement had come from that quarter.
It was under such disheartening circumstances that 'Washington de- termined on the famous movement which has been known to American his- tory as his retreat across New Jersey. He knew he could not defend the line of the Hackensack, and it was only a question of a brief time ere he would be hemmed in and unable even to retreat without a battle, and a regular battle he was at that juncture most desirous of avoiding. On No- vember 21, he crossed the Passaic and marched to Newark, and five days later, on the approach of Cornwallis, he retreated upon New Brunswick. The British advance was intended to stop only at Philadelphia, which they had concluded was the rebel capital, and of course it was Washington's purpose to delay that journey as long as possible, even although he could not then accept the wage of battle. On December Ist, Washington crossed the Raritan and zealously pursued his march, until on the 8th he had put the Delaware River between his own forces and those of the enemy, car- ried over in safety all his troops and stores, and was prepared for a breath- ing spell. When the British forces arrived on the evening of the same day, they found that every boat had been destroyed or seized and that no available means were at hand for continuing the pursuit. Washington had executed a dangerous movement in a inasterly fashion, but many of his troops were disheartened and footsore, desertions, by the way, had been frequent, and his force-the force that with him crossed the Delaware- had dwindled to something less than 3,000 men. Even in that were in- cluded a few fresh reinforcements. Speaking of this memorable retreat Thomas F. Gordon wrote :
"The retreat into and through New Jersey was attended with al- most every circumstance that could embarrass and depress the spirits. It commenced immediately after the heavy loss at Fort Washington. In fourteen days after that event the whole flying camp claimed its discharge,
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and other troops, also, whose engagements terminated about that time, daily departed. The two New Jersey regiments which had been for- warded by General Gates, under General St. Clair, went off to a man the moment they entered their own State. A few officers without a single private were all of these regiments which St. Clair brought to the Com- mander-in-Chief. The troops who were with Washington, mostly of the garrison of Fort Lee, were without tents, blankets, shoes or the necessary utensils to cook their provisions. In this situation the General had the address to prolong a march of ninety miles' to the space of nineteen days. During his retreat scarce an inhabitant joined him, while numbers daily flocked to the royal army to make their peace and beg protection. On the one side was a well appointed, well clad army, dazzling in its brilliancy and imposing by its success ; on the other, a few poor fellows whose tattered raiment but too well justified the sobriquet of 'ragmuffins,' with which the sneering Tories reproached them, fleeing for their safety."
On December 2d, General Lee had crossed the Hudson with his force, by that time reduced to something in the neighborhood of 4,000, and landed in New Jersey, but instead of pushing on to join his Chief he con- ducted his army to Morristown, and there set up his headquarters, with Sullivan as his second in command. On the 13th, while at breakfast at Baskingridge, about three miles from his main force, Lee was taken a pris- oner by the British and carried to their camp.
With the crossing of the Delaware, Washington's retreat across New Jersey may be regarded as having ended. The two armies were in sight of each other. Cornwallis was eager that the pursuit should be kept up, but there was no means of transit available, and the river was in one of its angry winter moods, so that extemporized rafts could hardly avail. General Howe peremptorily ordered a halt, saying that within twenty- four hours or so the river would be frozen over so as to permit the entire army and equipment to march over. But this anticipated assistance na- ture did not provide. So, in accordance with one of Howe's easy-going notions, the campaign was declared over, and the British troops prepared to settle down for the winter. About 4,000 troops were quartered along the Delaware from Trenton to Bordentown, and the remainder at different points to the Hackensack. The success which had followed his move- ments thus far, the listlessness in the cause of the Revolution which he found existing throughout New Jersey wherever he had gone, and perhaps the revelations made to him of the extent and equipment of the patriot armies, had inspired Howe, seemingly, with a contempt for the force now opposed to him across the river, and he regarded the way to Philadelphia as open to his troops as soon as he should be pleased to resume his march. Even Congress seemed to think that Philadelphia was doomed, and re-
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moved to Baltimore, a movement which threw the City of Brotherly Love into a panic.
But Washington was not idle all this time, and as reinforcements be- gan to arrive in his camp the spirits of his troops revived and confidence in his leadership resumed its sway. One danger of supreme importance threatened him just at this juncture. The time for which many of his troops had enlisted ended with the close of the year, and the indications were that all, or nearly all, who could thus honorably retire would then re- turn to their homes. He never forgot the possibility, too, that Howe might change his plans, cross the Delaware on the ice, even at the trouble of a winter campaign, and so march on to Philadelphia. But every day's delay added to the Continental strength. December 20th Sullivan arrived in camp with the army which had been fortunately bereft of Lee. There were other accessions also, until the force amounted to between 6,000 and 7,000 men.
With this strength Washington determined on a bold stroke while his force remained intact and before the dreaded close of the men's term of service might again weaken it. He had observed how loosely Howe's forces wcre scattered, and thought that by crushing the center at Tren- ton he would compel the entire army to retreat upon New York. Ac-, cording to the plans drawn up, the river was to be crossed at three points -one corps under Gates was to attack Burlington, Erwin was to cross di- rectly to Trenton and commence the attack, while Washington, with a third corps, was to cross some few miles north of Trenton and march upon it. Gates did not relish his part of the job, apparently, and left his com- mand to General Cadwalader, but neither the latter nor Erwin was able to cross the river on account of the masses of ice on that eventful Christ- mas night. But Washington was determined to make the attempt, and got his corps of 2,500 mer across, although ten hours were consumed in the operation. The night of December 25th, 1776, was one of those in which winter plays all its pranks, snow, sleet, rain, frost and all sorts of variations, but the Continentals pushed on, and by sunrise on the morning of the 26th one column under Sullivan entered Trenton by one route, while Greene led another in a parallel direction, and Washington with the artil- lery moved between. The British force, mainly Hessians, consisting of 1,000 men, surrendered, after their leader, Colonel Rahl, and several others had been killed, and Trenton was once more in the patriots' hands. The death of General Rahl, who was a gallant officer, has been described at length in Raum's "History of Trenton." Mortally wounded, and sup- ported by two soldiers, he presented his sword to Washington, and im- plored him for such humane attentions as the great victor was well dis-
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posed to bestow upon him. The fatal shot was said to have been fired by Colonel Frederick Frelinghuyson. General Cadwalader, on the 27th, managed to cross the river and entered Burlington, where the Hessians were also in force, but their leader, Count Donop, did not wait for the Continental troops, and retreated to Princeton, leaving behind his wounded, his guns and his stores. On the 29th Washington, having removed his prisoners into Pennsylvania, returned to Trenton. This victory, slight as it was, had infused new courage into his troops, and most of those whose time was about to expire agreed to remain for six weeks longer.
The British, thus rudely summoned, awoke from their dreams and began concentrating their forces at Princeton, where earthworks had been hastily thrown up. Lord Cornwallis, on January 2d, advanced upon Trenton, but found his progress impeded not alone by the elements but by the sharp fire of a corps of marksmen who, in the shelter of the woods along the route, kept up an incessant attack upon the advancing forces. Cornwallis reached Trenton by sundown, but Washington meanwhile had removed his troops beyond a creek, the Assunpink, and guarded it so well that Cornwallis was obliged to call a halt, and the two armies apparently settled down for the night.
Washington knew he was once more in a critical position, and sun- moning a council on the night of January 2d, 1777, he laid before its members his plan for escaping from it. He proposed to leave the Dela- ware as the base of operations, and by executing a silent movement that night get into the rear of the British troops at Princeton, defeat them there .. and by another rapid march reach New Brunswick, where their stores and baggage lay. By this movement, if carried out successfully, he would force Cornwallis to retreat, and by taking up a strong position at Morris- town he would hold the entire British army in check, and make Phila- delphia seem a long way off. The scheme commended itself to the coun- cil, and a beginning was at once made. The fires around the camp were renewed, the sentries paced up and down at the bridge and fording places of the creek, but the army passed silently away, marching around Corn- wallis's left wing and so on what was called the Quaker Road. Toward sunrise, just outside of Princeton, they fell in with a British force of three regiments marching to strengthen Cornwallis's army, and a sharp action at once followed. The American militia fell back under the galling fire of the British regulars, and it was while trying to rally them that the gallant General Mercer fell mortally wounded. The contest did not last long. Washington with his main force hurried to the scene, and in a few min- utes the British troops were utterly routed and fled in different directions, leaving behind two hundred in killed and wounded, while three hundred
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prisoners were left in the hands of the Continentals. Princeton was soon afterward entered.
At Princeton Washington saw fit to change his plans. His men were tired out and unable to march on New Brunswick with the alacrity which the emergency demanded and, crossing Millstone Creek between Prince- ton and New Brunswick, he burned the bridges and gained for his troops the rest they so much needed. Then he marched to Morristown and took up the position on the heights which had been the objective point of his entire movement.
No other course was for the moment really open to him. When Cornwallis awoke the next morning after his arrival at Trenton, and found the American forces gone, he at once determined to retreat to New Bruns- wick and protect it from the attack which he felt certain would be made
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT MORRISTOWN.
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upon it for the sake of its stores. His troops entered Princeton just as the Americans left it, and then was seen the rather curious episode of two armies marching away from each other at right angles. Corwallis reached New Brunswick without further misadventure, and there awaited the progress of events.
But the Continentals now played no waiting game. Putnam, with a fresh force from Philadelphia, took possession of Princeton and held it.
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On January 5th, 1777, the British were driven out of Hackensack. General. Maxwell surprised Elizabethtown. General Dickinson won quite a victory near Somerset, and all along the line glowing reports of substantial achieve- ments began to flow into the headquarters at Morristown. "Thus, in a brief campaign of three weeks," wrote John Fiske, "Washington had ral- lied the fragments of a defeated and broken army, fought two successful battles, taken nearly 2,000 prisoners, and recovered the State of New Jersey. He had cancelled the disastrous effects of Lee's failure, and replaced things apparently in the condition in which the fall of Fort Wash- ington had left him. Really he had done much more than this, for, by as- suming the offensive and winning victories through sheer force of genius, he had completely turned the tide of popular feeling. The British generals began to be afraid of him, while on the other hand his army began to grow by the accession of fresh recruits. In New Jersey the enemy retained nothing but New Brunswick, Amboy and Paulus Hook."
The turn in the tide of popular feeling alluded to above was nowhere more clearly seen than in New Jersey itself. But the story is so singular that it had better be told by a New Jersey historian. So we quote at length from Mr. Thomas F. Gordon :
"The favorable change in the affairs of the Americans was in no. place so sensibly felt a's in New Jersey, where the people suffered all the horrors which could flow from a licentious and almost unrestrained soldiery. When the royal army entered Jersey, the inhabitants pretty gen- erally remained in their houses, and many thousands received printed pro- tections signed by order of the British Commander-in-Chief. This event, in the language of Governor Livingston, 'enabled the patriots more ef- fectually to distinguish their friends from their enemies.' 'It opened the eyes of those who were made to believe that their impious merit in abetting the persecutors would exempt them from being involved in the common calamity.' Neither the proclamation of the commissioners nor protections saved the people from plunder or insult. Their property was taken and destroyed without distinction of persons. They exhibited their protections, but the Hessians could not read and would not understand them, and the British soldiers deemed it foul disgrace that the Hessians should be the only plunderers. Discontent and murmurs increased every hour with the ravages of both, which were almost sanctioned by general orders, and which spared neither friend nor foe. Neither age nor sex protected from outrage. Infants, children, old men and women, were left naked and ex- posed, without a blanket to cover them from the inclemency of winter. Furniture which could not be carried away was wantonly destroyed ; dwell- ings and out-houses were burned or rendered uninhabitable; churches and other public buildings were consumed ; and the rape of women and even of very young girls filled the measure of woe. But even the worm will turn-
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upon the oppressor. Had every citizen been secured in his rights, protected in his property, and paid for supplies, the consequences might have been fatal to the cause of independence. What the earnest commendations of Congress, the zealous exertions of Governor Livingston and the State authorities, and the ardent supplications of Washington could not effect, was produced by the rapine and devastation of the royal forces.
"The whole country became instantly hostile to the invaders. Suf- ferers of all parties rose as one man to revenge their personal injuries. Those who from age and infirmities were incapable of military service, kept a strict watch upon the movements of the royal army, and com- municated information to their countrymen in arm. Those who lately declined all opposition, though called on by the sacred tie of honor pledged to each other in the declaration of independence, cheerfully embodied when they found submission to be unavailing for the security of their es- tates. This is not to be attributed wholly to the victories of Trenton and Princeton. In the very moment of these actions, or before the results were known, individuals, ignorant of Washington's movements, concerted in- surrections to revenge their peculiar injuries. The contest had its source in the unrighteous claim of the British statesmen to appropriate the prop- erty of the colonists against their consent .. It was reanimated by a new and direct application of the principle of the British army. Men who could not apprehend the consequences of British taxation nor of American independence, could feel the injuries inflicted by insolent and cruel and brutal soldiers. The militia of New Jersey from this time forward gen- erally acquired high reputation; and through a long and tedious war con- ducted themselves with spirit and discipline. They now scoured the coun- try in every direction, seized on stragglers, in several slight skirmishes behaved unexceptionably well, and collected in such numbers as to threaten the weaker British posts.
"In a few days, indeed, the Americans had overrun the Jerseys. The enemy was forced from Woodbridge; General Maxwell surprised Eliza- bethtown, and took near one hundred prisoners with a quantity of bag- gage; Newark was abandoned, and the royal troops were confined to New Brunswick. and Amboy. Within four days after the affair at Princeton, between forty and fifty Waldeckers were killed, wounded or taken at Springfield, by an equal number of the same Jersey militia which but a month before had abandoned all opposition. This enterprise was con- ducted by Colonel Spencer, whose gallantry was rewarded with the com- mand of a regiment.
"On the 20th of January, General Dickinson, with about four hun- dred militia and fifty Pennsylvania riflemen, defeated near Somerset court- house, on the Millstone river, a foraging party of the enemy of about. equal number, and took forty wagons, upward of one hundred horses, and many cattle and sheep. The General received much praise for his courage and conduct; for, though his troops were raw, he led them through the river middle deep, and charged with so much impetuosity that the enemy, notwithstanding he had three field-pieces, gave way and left the convoy. About a month after this affair, Colonel Neilson, of New Brunswick, with
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a detachment of one hundred and and fifty militia, surprised and captured Major Stockton (one of the numerous family of that name, who, from his treachery, was called 'double Dick'), at the head of fifty-nine privates, refugees, in British pay."
Matters remained in New Jersey pretty much in statu quo until the following June (1777) when Howe essayed again to pass through the state en route to Philadelphia. In the previous month Washington had abandoned his position at Morristown and entrenched himself in another, at Middlebrook, near the Raritan River, and about ten miles from New Brunswick. This position commanded the road to Philadelphia, and its effectiveness was such that as soon as it was seen by Howe he realized that either Washington should be removed or he would completely lose the State and be compelled to reach Philadelphia by another route. He also found that by this time public sentiment in the State was unmistakably anti-British, and that his troops were in danger wherever they went, ex- cept in large numbers. However, he had a force of 18,000 men in New ยท Brunswick, while he knew that Washington's army did not number more than 8,000, and he calculated that if he could manage to dislodge that leader from his strong position he might easily, by the sheer superiority of his numbers, defeat him in battle. But Washington was too wary to give up the most trifling advantage in such a grim contest and he refused to play into Howe's hand by surrendering a single point in the game of war. So, after some eighteen days of countermarching and maneuvering and the employment of all the recognized military arts to break the deter- mination of Washington to remain on his chosen ground, Howe suddenly retired from the task, and proceeded to remove his entire command hur- riedly to Staten Island. But even then Howe did not altogether give up hope. Hearing that Washington had abandoned his position at Middle- brook, and was at a place called Quibbletown, on the Amboy road, he thought by a rapid movement to gain the position which had been vacated and thus secure for himself the vantage ground which had hitherto baffled him. So he recalled the troops from Staten Island on June 25th, and, di- viding his army into two divisions, began a rapid march, one division to Metuchen, which Howe commanded in person, and the other going toward Westfield, under Cornwallis. But Washington was too wary, and on the first signs of the return movement fell back on Middlebrook. When Hoiwe was apprised of this he abandoned the effort, recalled the advance and re- turned to Staten Island, leaving New Jersey for a time clear of royalist troops. The only one who suffered loss of laurels from this movement on the Continental side was Lord Sterling, who was defeated in a skirmish by Cornwallis, and lost three guns and several of his men.
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It was not until after the disaster at Brandywine, September IIth, that New Jersey again became the scene of active hostilities on anything like a large scale. Congress had ordered reinforcements from the State, and with the view of checking enlistments Sir Henry Clinton divided a large force into two columns, and, landing one at Fort Lee and the other at Elizabethtown, they marched until they reached the Hackensack and there united. They found, however, such a general obstruction to their progress that no attempt was made to experiment further, and the troops returned to New York, leaving behind eight of their number who had been killed. General Macdougal was in command of the Continental reg- ulars, and General Dickinson of the State Militia, and both were decidedly watchful. But they found their time mainly occupied on the Delaware, for Howe, then in possession of Philadelphia, deemed the possession of that river necessary to the safeguarding of his line of supplies, and for a time that historic stream again played a most prominent part in the mili- tary game.
The most exciting of all the moves in this connection, was the expe- dition of Count Donop to Red Bank, or Fort Mercer, on the Delaware River, near where is now Camden. It was his object to seize that place and hold it so that it might be an open gateway to foraging or other par- ties into New Jersey, for the supplying of Howe's army, then at Philadel- phia. Its possession was deemed of such importance by the Americans that it had been strongly fortified under the direction of Colonel Christo- pher Greene, and it was near this place-the precise spot being unknown- that Fort Nassau was erected by Captain Cornelius Jacobse Mey, in 1623, when he attempted the first settlement of New Jersey.
Count Carl Emil Kurt von Donop was sent out from Philadelphia with four battalions of Hessian veterans, about two thousand men. Oc- tober 21st they crossed the Delaware at Cooper's Ferry, now Camden, marched to Haddonfield, and thence to the King's Highway above Wood- bury and toward Red Bank. They had intended taking a more direct route, but the Americans had destroyed the bridge over Timber Creek, obliging them to march four miles up stream to a shallow ford, at or near Clement's bridge. A portion of their route to Red Bank still goes by the name of "Hessian Run."
The fact that Colonel Greene was intrusted by Washington with the command of a post that was of "the utmost importance to America," and upon which the whole defence of the Delaware absolutely depended, was a high tribute to the honor, valor and judgment of that officer.
Colonel Greene's force was but four hundred men, not sufficient to defend the entire fort, and he proposed to abandon about two-thirds of
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